Dino Exhibit Hopscotch Skirt

 

It’s Kids Clothes Week again! This week has been my most productive KCW so far. I’ve been having a lot of fun. The theme this time was “disguise,” and while these fun little dinosaurs aren’t donning masks or costumes, they are exciting and adorable and I’m completely in love with them.

This is the first time that I have sewn this skirt. The pattern is (yes, you know, just wait for it) another Oliver + S pattern, called the Hopscotch Skirt. I originally purchased this pattern to get brave enough to sew with knits, because the top and dress options on this pattern are designed for knit fabrics. I think that day is just around the corner, but I thought I’d try the skirt first. I fell in love with these little Chinese take-out pockets back when Gail first made this skirt. Wow, I just realized that was back in 2013. I think I decided to buy the pattern after Gail more recently made this one in the beautiful Handcrafted fabric by Alison Glass.

I wasn’t sure what fabric would best suit A and also this pattern, but one day I stumbled upon this dino fabric over at Hawthorne Threads. I actually had to wait for it to come back in stock, but it didn’t take them very long to restock and e-mail me that I could bring these dinos home to hang out with us.

The Hopscotch skirt is really a work of art. The pattern has a ton of built in details that add to the professionalism and finesse of the finishing. In fact a lot of the pieces are sewn together in such a way that the garment almost feels like it finishes itself. I pretty much stuck to the pattern… and aside from a few OOPS moments where I glazed over a step and ended up seam ripping and redoing, it came together easily and fairly quickly. You definitely have to do some thinking if your fabric is directional. If you look closely in the photo above, you can see that the dinos on the waistband are upside down! OOPS!

The contrast fabric that I used is a calico cotton from JoAnn’s. Once I had the skirt sewn, I traveled back to their button aisle and picked up these adorable dull white and red buttons. I’m really happy with how they all work together. This is climbing the list of favorite things that I’ve sewn to date. I can’t wait to photograph A in this skirt tomorrow! Of course, now I will have to figure out what top pattern to make her to go with it. Perhaps I can find a knit that will work and try my hand at the Hopscotch top. It’s been pretty darn warm here the last couple days but we all know where we are headed!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Cynthia